Unpopular Opinions Society

[Envy]

Are you an ethical or health veggie?
I think its easier to go back if youre only in it for thehealth aspects.
How anyone can return to eating meat after stopping for ethical reasons baffles me.

I have no real reason to be a vegetarian. I just feel like it.

But when I thought about eating a meat sandwich at subway once "just to try it again", I got this feeling that if I did that, I would be throwing away something precious to me in the process.

It's weird, ain't it?

 

[Alice-Bee]

I have no real reason to be a vegetarian. I just feel like it.

But when I thought about eating a meat sandwich at subway once "just to try it again", I got this feeling that if I did that, I would be throwing away something precious to me in the process.

It's weird, ain't it?

Very...

 

[Freesia]

I knew a girl who went pescatarian for health reasons, but only occasional fish. Anyway after 2 years of this she decided she would have a steak and her mother said "No dont eat it, it will make you sick." and sure enough,,, she was sick, because she hadnt had it for so long her body had got out of the habit of processing it. I dont know if it would happen that way for everyone though.

 

[AeryFairy]

But when I thought about eating a meat sandwich at subway once "just to try it again", I got this feeling that if I did that, I would be throwing away something precious to me in the process.

I think this is how I feel... I have my reasons, definitely, but sometimes when it feels like those reasons don't hold up, or I get a craving, I still feel like being veg*n is some special part of me that I don't want to let go of...

 

[Blobbenstein]

I think I could eat meat if I had to, like if I were homeless, or in a foreign prison, but it would be weird.....I might even like it, I'm not sure, but it would be weird.

Nah, maybe I wouldn't like it......I don't really know.

 

[thefadedone]

I knew a girl who went pescatarian for health reasons, but only occasional fish. Anyway after 2 years of this she decided she would have a steak and her mother said "No dont eat it, it will make you sick." and sure enough,,, she was sick, because she hadnt had it for so long her body had got out of the habit of processing it. I dont know if it would happen that way for everyone though.

I would assume this would happen to me. Just the thought of eating real meat makes me want to vomit.

I wish more people educated themselves about veg*nism before jumping in. Maybe then they wouldn't have so much trouble sticking with it. Maybe?

I don't understand vegetarians/vegans who feed their kids meat and animal products. I've seen the excuse: "it's my decision to go vegetarian and I'm not going to force my beliefs on my children."

They also seem to be very misinformed because they don't believe children will get the proper nutrients being veg*n. I see this same logic with some pregnant veg*ns. They go back to eating meat while pregnant because they believe that it wouldn't be healthy to remain veg*n while pregnant.

 

[kibbleforlola]

I read somewhere that tastes for foods can develop in the womb. For example, ive gone through fazes where all I want to eat is citrus, turns out that my mom ate a lot of oranges during her pregnancy.

I gu ess my point is, is that veg*ns who go back to meat for the baby, are actually doing it a disservice.

 

[Alice-Bee]

Theres a girl on my FB who a few years ago was going vegan, she became ill(not related) and went back to veggie because she was barely eating as it was...anyway, recently she had a baby and it was diagnosed with a milk allergy, she seems to be angry about this...surely thats a good thing..now the baby could be a future vegan, something she believes in...

 

[Muggle]

I read somewhere that tastes for foods can develop in the womb. For example, ive gone through fazes where all I want to eat is citrus, turns out that my mom ate a lot of oranges during her pregnancy.

I gu ess my point is, is that veg*ns who go back to meat for the baby, are actually doing it a disservice.

I hate oranges, but I love orange juice. Turns out my mother used to drink loads of freshly squeezed orange juice when she was pregnant with me.

 

[Lord Snot]

That is true of other species, I know that cats develop their tastes both in the womb and depending on what food their mum brings them in the nest. Better than each generation going through trial and error to find the good foods.

People who completely change their habits and then become militant preachers about it annoy me. Not just vegetarians who go back to meat but smokers who give it up and people who lose weight as well. They tend to be either really smug about it or really fanatical.

 

[mlp]

People who completely change their habits and then become militant preachers about it annoy me. Not just vegetarians who go back to meat but smokers who give it up and people who lose weight as well. They tend to be either really smug about it or really fanatical.

New veg*ns tend to be this way also. The more vociferous new veg*ns are, the more I think they won't last.

 

[mlp]

I think it's quite understandable that some people go back to eating meat, especially those people who were influenced to go veg or vegan by their partners or friends in the first place. It must be a minority of people though? Someone in my hub's family went back to being veg after being vegan but he still ate the vegan meal at the wedding I went to last year, because I was nosy and checked that he hadn't gone back to eating meat. It seems like I hear about people going vegan more and more lately, on a British forum I'm on it seems like a few people are going vegan as a New Year's Resolution, I hope it sticks.

I think the majority of people don't stick to it. I have met many more ex-veg*ns than I have met veg*ns (if I don't count all the veg*ns I've met who regularly eat chicken and seafood ). Other than online folk, I've only met two veg*ns who have stuck with it. I met one woman who was vegetarian for twenty years, and then decided it was "too hard."

 

[Lord Snot]

New veg*ns tend to be this way also. The more vociferous new veg*ns are, the more I think they won't last.

It's a huge shift in the way you see the world and a big identity change for most of us. Like it or not, in our cultures food is hugely important. So I do understand why new veg*ns are the most vociferous - I was one

You get people who lost a lot of weight 10 years ago and their whole life still revolves around it (since that is what it takes to keep the weight off, sadly) and I think damn, your life was probably better when you were fat. And please shut up.

 

[Moll Flanders]

I think the majority of people don't stick to it. I have met many more ex-veg*ns than I have met veg*ns (if I don't count all the veg*ns I've met who regularly eat chicken and seafood ). Other than online folk, I've only met two veg*ns who have stuck with it. I met one woman who was vegetarian for twenty years, and then decided it was "too hard."

Most of the vegans I've met I think are in it for life. I've met quite a few ex-vegetarians though. I agree with you about new veg/vegan people getting so over the top about the lifestyle though. I was in a vegan cafe a few years ago and a woman was lecturing a man (a stranger!) in there about veganism and then she looked across the room and tried to include me in the discussion and she was amazed that I was a "real" vegan, apparently she still ate yoghurt and fish.

Saying that I was probably obnoxious at first too, but at least I've been veg for nearly 20 years now.

 

[Muggle]

That is true of other species, I know that cats develop their tastes both in the womb and depending on what food their mum brings them in the nest. Better than each generation going through trial and error to find the good foods.

People who completely change their habits and then become militant preachers about it annoy me. Not just vegetarians who go back to meat but smokers who give it up and people who lose weight as well. They tend to be either really smug about it or really fanatical.

Try a militant ex-vegetarian, ex-smoker who claims that going back to eating meat meant they lost 4 stone.

Nothing at all to do with the fact that after she quit smoking (she started eating meat a month later because of some faddy diet she went onto) she could actually start exercising.

So vegan (as I was when I met her) overweight smoker me got on like a house on fire with her.

 

[Lord Snot]

At least with the meat, she still has a good chance of an early death. Hang in there, Annia!

 

[mlp]

It's a huge shift in the way you see the world and a big identity change for most of us. Like it or not, in our cultures food is hugely important. So I do understand why new veg*ns are the most vociferous - I was one

True.

I was thinking more in terms of the new veg*ns I saw all the time on VB - lecturing longer term veg*ns, decrying how their families were murderers for eating meat (which they themselves still did a week and a half previously), etc. Sometimes they'd just disappear; a few would actually post about how they had to eat meat again for their health. One chickie in particular I remember who was a new vegan, and very militant about it. Considerably less than a year later, she was posting about the blood type diet and how her blood type necessitated her eating meat.

IMO, most of the people who disappear from veg*n boards entirely do so because they've gone back to eating meat.

 

[Muggle]

At least with the meat, she still has a good chance of an early death. Hang in there, Annia!

I liked to breathe smoke into her face.

Hey, if she decided she wanted to continue to argue with me and follow me outside into the freezing cold and stand right next to me when I didn't want to talk to her anymore then it was fair game.

Luckily I only met her once. (She was visiting one of my friends at uni. )

 

[Freesia]

I do remember seeing a number of people on VB who seemed to be vegetarian or vegan for about 3 weeks before giving up.

I think a reason why people who are new veg/ns are militant at times is that they are newly traumatised ie they have only just watched one of the videos online and are still reeling from the shock of it.

Also they are trying to deal with the new wave of dislike and opposition from people around them. It takes a lot of maturity to be able to deal with it. Vegetarians who have kept it up learn to adjust and just sit quietly while the arrows are flung at them, or they learn to calmly refute arguments presented to them. It really takes time to find your feet as a veg/n as you are pretty much doing it alone and have to swim against the stream.

 

[FortyTwo]

I read somewhere that tastes for foods can develop in the womb. For example, ive gone through fazes where all I want to eat is citrus, turns out that my mom ate a lot of oranges during her pregnancy.

I gu ess my point is, is that veg*ns who go back to meat for the baby, are actually doing it a disservice.

Oddly enough, my mother went back to eating meat when she was pregnant with me, and didn't become vegetarian again until I went 11 years later.

That being said, I didn't give up meat because it tasted bad, and I do enjoy fake meat.